"Countless men, women and children suffered the horrors of the ghettos and Nazi death camps, yet somehow survived.
All of them carry a crucial message for all of us. A message about the triumph of the human spirit. A living testament that tyranny, though it may rise, will surely not prevail".
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 27 January 2010
2010 Calendar of Holocaust Remembrance Events
The 2010 observance of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust focused on a central theme "The Legacy of Survival", which emphasizes the universal lessons that the survivors will pass on to succeeding generations. With fewer survivors alive to tell their stories, it is of primary importance to share this legacy with people everywhere to encourage respect for diversity and human rights for generations to come.
A series of events has taken place the week of 25 January 2010 at United Nations Headquarters in New York and at United Nations Information Centres around the world. The week-long observance at United Nations Headquarters in New York included the following events:
Monday 25 January
- Exhibit Opening: “Generations: Survival and the Legacy of Hope”
Venue: UN Public Lobby
This exhibition shows that Holocaust survivors have a clear message to leave to the benefit of future generations, as well as to others who may have experienced similar persecution. Their legacy is deeply personal and painful, but has a compelling universal lesson for humanity—that one can survive and thrive with the promise of future generations to follow, carrying the traditions, beliefs and wisdom. The exhibition was developed by the UK Holocaust Centre, Conscience Display and the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education.
Tuesday 26 January
- Exhibit Opening: “Architecture of Murder: The Auschwitz-Birkenau Blueprints”
Venue: UN Public Lobby (Access through the UN visitors' entrance at 1st Avenue and 46 Street)
The aim of the exhibition is to emphasize that Auschwitz-Birkenau, the concentration and extermination camp which became known worldwide as the insignia of human evil, was engineered for the destruction of European Jewry. The Auschwitz camp complex was the largest and most important extermination complex built by Nazi Germany. During the period of its operation between June 1940 and January 1945, the Germans murdered more than a million people on site, most of whom were Jews. The exhibition was curated and produced by Yad Vashem - The Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority and sponsored by the American & International Societies for Yad Vashem.
Remarks by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: UN Survivors Play Vital Role in Keeping Lessons of Holocaust Alive for Future Generations, Secretary-General Says at Exhibition Commemorating Victims
Wednesday 27 January
- Panel Discussion: “Interreligious Responses to the Holocaust: 65 Years after Liberation”
Venue: Temporary North Lawn Building, Conference Room 2
Time: 3:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Contact: rsvpUN@bnaibrith.org or 212-557-0019
B’nai B’rith International, in cooperation with the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the United Nations, will organize a discussion on the Shoah and its lessons, between senior Christian faith leaders (H.E. Archbishop Demetrios, Primate, Greek Orthodox Church in America and Chairman, Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas; Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary, National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA; Most Rev. Bishop Gerald T. Walsh, Rector/President, St. Joseph’s Seminary and Member, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Consultation with the National Council of Synagogues) and Daniel S. Mariaschin, Executive Vice President, B’nai B’rith International
- Holocaust Memorial Ceremony and Concert, General Assembly Hall, 7:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Thursday 28 January
- DPI-NGO Briefing: “The Legacy of the Jews in Morocco”
Venue: Temporary North Lawn Building, Conference Room 4
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Contact: dpingo.briefings@un.org
This briefing, which is part of the weekly DPI/NGO briefings, will focus on the legacy of the Jewish community in Northern Africa, where there was a concentration of Sephardic Jews. Mr. André Azoulay, Chief Adviser to His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco, will deliver a statement. Please note that the DPI/NGO Briefing is open to NGOs associated with DPI and ECOSOC.
- Screening of the film “Defiance”, 6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Co-sponsored by the United States Mission to the United Nations